Good As Gold: Alkemie Jewelry Transforms An Industry

Baubles, bands, and beads have been crafted, bartered, sold, and stolen for thousands of years. The oldest jewelry ever discovered was a collection of mollusk shell beads from South Africa dating back more than 75,000 years. As it turns out, self-adornment is virtually as old as the human race. The word “jewelry” comes from the Latin word jocale, meaning “plaything.” And though we may think of these trinkets as lighthearted and amorous “playthings,” the negative impact from jewelry production has become surprisingly colossal in more recent years.

Jewelry designers Ashley Lowengrub and Dara Gerson were appalled to discover the disastrous effects of open pit mining, a common method of gold extraction. Open pit mining first razes the virgin forest of an area, then systematically strips the land, layer by layer, in search of suspected gold. The mined earth is broken into small pieces, then treated with cyanide and sulphuric acid to separate gold from rock. Like black magic, this process transforms a pristine natural habitat into a barren wasteland of toxic waste dumps and chemical cesspools.

Once they understood the massive impact their work could potentially have, Dara and Ashley were compelled to change their own relationships with the precious metal and gem industry. They launched Alkemie Jewelry in January of this year, transforming bullet casings collected from shooting ranges into positively enchanting art nouveau pieces. Alkemie is already sold in chic boutiques from Fred Segal to ABC Home. The couple has recently expanded to include sterling, gold, nickel, and copper in their recycled metal blends, and makes most of their collection to order.

Dara and Ashley design from their home studio in California’s Topanga Canyon, where breathtaking views of the coastal mountains can inspire them. Atop an early 1900′s antique work table, amidst vintage jewelry pieces, found objects, and two beautiful young daughters tearing around and throwing in their two cents, Ashley and Dara select and deliberate what new images will be forged. They lovingly describe their environment as “organized chaos.”

These seasoned designers bring a savvy intuition to their collection, conjuring their own wild surroundings of Topanga into metallic icons: maidens, mares, owls, foxes, sparrows, insects and angels. Alkemie’s timeless beauty, as well as timely green methodologies, have not gone unnoticed by the jewelry industry, still predominantly uninitiated in the concept of sustainability. When asked if they’ve noticed the recycled metal lines quickly following Alkemie’s lead, Ashley and Dara say, “…the more the merrier, hopefully we can make a collective conscious movement.” And that may indeed be exactly what they’re doing.

Alkemie Jewelry transforms discarded metals into family heirlooms, and like white magic, is quietly transmuting a toxic industry that pillages the planet, into a conscious craft that celebrates it.